Six days ago he took on the world and won. On Saturday, Anchorage skier Gus Schumacher took on a continent and was gold again.
Schumacher, who recently became the first American man to win a World Cup race in more than 40 years, won Saturday’s 50-kilometer American Birkebeiner, the biggest cross-country ski race in North America.
Gus Schumacher (center) and David Norris (right) on the podium. Photo courtesy American Birkebeiner Facebook.
He led a group of six Alaskans into the top 17 in the elite skate race in Wisconsin. Part of a big lead pack the entire race, Schumacher grabbed the lead in the final stretch and forged a six-second advantage over runnerup Sam Hendry of Utah to win in 1 hour, 58 minutes, 18 seconds.
Nine seconds back were third-place David Norris of Fairbanks and fourth-place Scott Patterson of Anchorage, who both clocked times of 1:58:27, according to results from the Birkebeiner website.
Three more Anchorage skiers finished in the top 17 — 11th-place Hunter Wonders, 16th-place Thomas O’Harra and 17th-place Garrett Butts.
Jessie Diggins of Minnesota — the three-time Olympic medalist and current World Cup leader — cruised to the women’s victory in 2:10:39, placing 28th overall. France’s Flora Dolci was 26 seconds behind in second place, and third-place finisher Alayna Soonesyn was a distant third, more than four minutes behind Diggins.
2024 American Birkebeiner 50-kilometer champions Jessie Diggins and Gus Schumacher
Next came a pair of former Alaskans — Hannah Rudd, who skied for UAA, was fourth, and Caitlin Patterson, a South High graduate, was fifth.
The race marked the 50th anniversary of the Birkebeiner, which faced severe challenges to pull off this year’s races.
A lack of snow made the traditional 50K race from Hayward to Cable impossible. Instead, officials created a 10-kilometer loop of man-made snow at Mt. Telemark Village near Cable for a field of 275 elite freestyle skiers, who made five trips around the loop.
For thousands of other skate skiers, the 50-kilometer race was reduced to 30 kilometers. Courses were also shortened for Birkie’s Kortelopet races (20 kilometers instead of 29) and Prince Haakon races (10 kilometers instead of 15).
Gus Schumacher with announcer Adam Verrier. Photo: broadcast screenshot.
The up-side for the Birkebeiner was a World Cup calendar that brought the world’s best skiers to North America for races earlier this month in Alberta and Minnesota. Those races wrapped up Sunday in Minneapolis, and most of the Americans stuck around to race in Wisconsin.
For Schumacher, Saturday’s victory was an encore to the greatest performance of his young career.
Last Sunday, the 23-year-old — a Service High grad who grew up training with Jan Buron’s Alaska Winter Stars group before recently joining the Alaska Pacific University club team — won the 10K freestyle race in Minneapolis. The historic win made him the first American man to win a World Cup distance race since Bill Koch took a victory in 1983.